Iraq "liberated" propaganda

"Baghdad's joy at being liberated"
(as BBC news presenter Peter Sissons put it, following the
April 9th 2003 "fall of Baghdad") was communicated
to the world via TV pictures of "jubilant scenes"
accompanying the symbolic toppling of a statue of Saddam Hussein.
Baghdad has a population of 5 million; only a few hundred
people were involved in the jubilation scenes. A long-shot
photo of the event gives a very different impression from
the TV hype: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2842.htm

The BBC's claims of impartiality over Iraq look dubious according
to David Miller of the Stirling media research institute.
He quotes a study of media coverage of anti-war dissent in
five countries showing the BBC featuring the lowest level
of dissent of all. Its 2% total was even lower than the 7%
found on the US channel ABC. The empirical evidence "suggests
a pro-war orientation" in the BBC, he says.

Miller mentions coverage of the coalition victory as an example:

"As Baghdad fell on April 9, BBC
reporters could hardly contain themselves in their haste to
endorse the victors. This was a "vindication" of
the strategy and it showed Blair had been "right"
and his critics "wrong". Here the BBC enunciated
a version of events very similar to that of the government.
According to the BBC, "dozens" witnessed the statue
pulled down by US marines in Baghdad on April 9, while "thousands"
demonstrated against "foreign hegemony" in the same
city on the 18th. Yet the footage of the former was described
as "extraordinary", "momentous" and "historic",
while the larger demonstration was greeted with scepticism.
Are they "confined to a small vocal minority", the
newscaster asked." (Guardian, 22/4/03)